The Camden Rapid Access Service provides three pathways, incorporating admission avoidance or early discharge.
The team consists of Advanced Nurse Practitioners, Paramedics, Occupational Therapists, Physiotherapists, Doctors, Nursing Associates and Senior Healthcare Assistants.
The service is primarily aimed at supporting people with immediate health or functional needs who would otherwise require an admission to hospital. It is one in a range of intermediate care services which provide therapies and rehabilitation in community settings for adults in Camden.
Patients will typically receive an initial visit by one of the registered staff members to make a care plan, which may include social care needs. The patient will receive assessment and care for up to 10 to 14 days (pathway dependent). After they will be referred to other appropriate services (i.e. GP; District Nurses; Community Specialist Teams).
The service aims to offer safe and effective care at home, enabling people to avoid hospital admission.
The service is for adults over the age of 18 who live in Camden, are registered with a Camden general practitioner (GP) and who require immediate intervention to prevent a possible hospital admission. Alternatively, your hospital physician may refer you to the team if your clinical needs can be managed in your own home.
Patient’s do not need to be housebound but need to remain at home each day until we have seen them. We are unable to provide an appointment time due to the unplanned nature of our service. Patients who are not able to remain at home may prefer to be seen by an appropriate appointment-based practitioner (GP or Practice Nurses).
For examples of conditions that the Urgent Community Response Team can manage, please see this poster which details acceptance and non-acceptance criteria for individual clinical conditions.
The service is not suitable for those patients who:
- Require emergency medical treatment or where mental health is the main presenting problem.
- Suspected Sepsis.
- Require IV Fluids/unable to tolerate oral fluids.
- Severe difficulty in breathing/shortness of breath.
- Suspected fractures.
- Suspected brain injuries or if GCS less than 15/15.
- Suspected Diabetic Keto Acidosis (DKA).
- Frank haematuria.
The service accepts referrals from:
- General Practitioners (GP)
- Other health and social care staff (including sheltered housing managers)
- NHS 111
- London Ambulance Service
- Acute services, if the patient has deteriorated once discharged home
- Any registered Health Care Professional
- From patients and their informal carers
The patient must be living within the borough of Camden and be registered with a Camden GP.
Referrals should be made by telephoning the Nurse and/or Paramedic in Charge on 020 7685 6966. Self-referrals from patients will only be accepted if known to the team within the last 48 hours and with the same clinical presentation.
We’re unable to accept referrals via email.
The team is comprised of nurses; paramedics; occupational therapists; physiotherapists; a pharmacist; therapy assistants and senior healthcare assistants.
Team Leaders
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Gareth Turner Lead Therapist |
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Christine Mitchell Lead Nurse |
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Jo Hamilton Deputy Therapy Lead |
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Fatima Bhatti Deputy Lead Nurse |
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Nadia Kyeremateng Lead Administrator |
The service is available Monday to Sunday between 8am and 10pm.
Outside these hours, we continue to accept referrals for next day response via the out-of-hours Nursing team.
Call ‘999’ now if you have signs/symptoms of a heart attack; stroke; severe difficulty in breathing; heavy bleeding; severe injuries; seizures or sudden rapid swelling of the tongue; eyes; mouth or throat.
Any urgent conditions outside of this list, please speak with your GP (in hours) or contact NHS ‘111’ for medical advice.
Find your closest GP on NHS Choices.
We welcome your feedback as service users or family members.
If you would like to speak with one of the Camden RAS clinical managers to provide feedback, compliments or concerns, please email cnwl.camdenrasfeedback@nhs.net. This email is manned Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, and we will endeavour to reply as soon as possible.
Otherwise, to provide feedback, please connect with the CNWL Patient Feedback and Complaints service by calling 0300 013 4799; email feedback.cnwl@nhs.net; or click here to complete the Friends and Family Test.